Let's assume that location is not an issue and that every bookstore is approximately five minutes away. Which bookstore would be your favourite?

I was discussing this with my friend earlier, and I personally liked Borders cause it's got a novel selection that I like, and I loooove the ambience and their deals are great. Hooray for them always giving away Neil Gaiman for cheap! Besides, the seating arrangements are comfortable, plentiful and it's entirely possible to make friends there easily. Love it.

I kinda like MPH too. I particularly liked that old MPH in Bangsar way back when in the Telawi Street area. The wooden ambience there was soooo good. Too bad that since it closed down I've never found any bookstore quite like that particular MPH.

My friend has a soft spot for Kinokuniya. She loves artbooks, and since Kino imports them by the buttload, she loves it there. We both also have a liking for the view, overlooking the nice KLCC park fountain.

My ex girlfriend then too loved any bookstore that had unwrapped books, cause she would stay for hours at a particular bookstore and read. If I remember correctly her favourite was Borders too. Simply because every single book there's unwrapped.

And with that said, what's your favourite bookstore?

Do go ahead and talk about your grievances with other bookstores too. I was going to say something about how I don't really like Times bookstore, but I unfortunately have no real idea why I don't like it.

Note that this thread is not meant to be a thread to look about bookstores as there is already a thread about it here. This thread to discuss what we like about the bookstores we frequent (or wish we could frequent). It could be anything from the kinds of people you get to meet to the selection to the search engine to the cute girl/guy at the information counter.

Hands down, Borders at Berjaya Times Square, for the simple reason that they have both an impressive collection of books and that they DON'T SHRINK-WRAP ALL THEIR BOOKS....
The one major advantage of a physical bookshop over their on-line rivals is that you can browse & flick through the product. Shrink-wrapping it makes that difficult as if you want to browse through a book, you have find a sales person to remove the wrapping and have to stand around near them while browsing.

Man, I love Kinokuniya. Was just in there today.

Beautiful, beautiful graphic novels section.

mine is kino in klcc and borders in bts. i used to think that mph in midvalley is pretty much a heaven of books on earth, but that was before i've been to kino and borders. but mph still has place in my heart. my least favorite bookstore is POPULAR. they are more like a stationery store than bookstore, and they WRAP their books in plastic, there's not even a browsing copy. anyway, dont forget those mamak stalls, where they got newspapers,magazines and comicbooks up to their roofs! hahaha. they are pretty cool in some way.

Kinokuniya & MPH MidValley

I like Borders since they came here few years ago in BTS. They had 2 floors! But times are bad that they shrink to only 1 floor. Many of the books that was free to read are now 'plasticated'. They took away all the bench seats too. So now its all standing room with a few rare islands to sit on. The best bit is and still are their Bargain corner. I like some of those quirky books that people don't care about that always end up there.

Kinokuniya was almost heaven for Japenese books & mags. Especially automotive ones for me. When they grown bigger i like how they have the biggest comic paperbacks. And even more Japanese speciality books. I mean where could you find a quarterly magazine on mens suits? And you could read them prior to buying too.

Times is getting in my good books these days. Their selection isn't as great as Borders and Kinokuniya. But they did offer what Borders took away recently.

MPH and Popular isn't much of a book place in my opinion. Maybe to some, but the place is so sterile. The place seems to make me just pass through browse and go.





MPH is ok

I'd say Kino, hands down, followed up by Borders at The Curve.

The main factor that attracts me in bookstores is the ambience, and Kinokuniya's ambience is just lovely.

i love kino most. the books are wrapped; i like it that way. when i buy a new book, i'd like it to be in mint condition. also the staff are very helpful. i prefer their catalogue system than others'.

mph midvalley.... i always go to either the ones in midvalley or one u or ikano... seldom go to others so can't comment on them..

MPH Subang Jaya & Borders Tropicana City Mall.. I can spend up to couple of hours just browsing the books there on weekends:)

I like Borders for English books. Also, I like Popular for Chinese books.

cheers,
http://a1-books-review.blogspot.com/

Popular Sunway Pyramid.

Well I think Kinokuniya and Borders are a lil' bit overpriced. I don't care the ambience unless I want to settle down enjoy aromatic coffees and read.

Kino is the best, all books well organismic and easy to get what i want.

Mine is Kinokuniya and MPH!

gerak budaya pj and the one at amcorp mall (all second hand, great titles)

MPH got so many 'liberal' books, Borders got so many overpriced books, Popular got no variety.

Thank God for public domain books

This post has been edited by bastart: May 4 2011, 05:10 AM

Popular at Ampang point

Oh! And Kinokuniya at KLCC rules too.

This post has been edited by wanzulfikri: May 28 2011, 02:35 PM

Kino is the best imo.

Good selection available, nice display system, good service (since i sometimes ask them to source book for me),

Although the discount is not so apparent imo, if compare with other book store, but still, time to time, they come out with the 20/30% discount for selected books, or 5% discount through rebate voucher.

But when i look at the price, i think amazon online is the best price, even + shipping, its still cheaper by 20-30%

Kinokuniya FTW

Love Kino KLCC most! that's the only reason i go KLCC.

Second - Borders @ The Curve

Third - Borders @ The Garden

Favourite bookstore has got to be Kinokuniya KLCC. It has a larger range of titles compared to Borders/MPH IMO. If only they have a membership-cum-discount card like all the other stores, that'd be perfect! I wonder why they don't have it here since they have membership cards in Kino Singapore.

Oh, not to forget BookXcess at Amcorp Mall. Books at a bargains!